Halloween Goblin Mission
by J Luc Pitard
Summary: It was a dark and stormy Halloween and Sarah was in for a surprise...


**Halloween Goblin Mission**

**a one shot**

A/N: As I sit watching the rain ruin a perfectly good Halloween experience for the neighborhood kids, thought I'd post this. Years on and I still claim no ownership over the Labyrinth nor it's characters.

* * *

Jareth, the king of the goblins, looked slightly bored one Samhain night. A slight frown furrowed his brows as he noted few goblins in attendance, most were out sowing mischief elsewhere. On the bright side, there weren't many chickens in his throne room either. Just one and it was eyeing the remaining goblins from a high vantage point, not wanting to be included in their game of "run-tag-scrum-throw." What kept boredom at bay for the king was a large, orange bag, about the size of a pillowcase. He reached his hand in and rummaged around without looking.

"Hmn," he muttered darkly. There was a sound of crinkling and his nostrils flared slightly before he shouted. "Ah! Oooh..." A sly grin crossed his face.

Four creatures were tearing around the central well which had been carved into the stone floor and they collided with one another as soon as their majesty struck on a plan.

"You!" the king used a commanding voice, though he didn't need to speak up to be heard by his subjects. A large, horned goblin picked up the smallest of them and tossed him toward the throne. Using an ornate walking cane, the king caught the little goblin by the collar of his leather jerkin and dangled him at eye level off the handle. "Well, well," he cooed. "And are you enjoying yourself tonight?"

As if he were too simple to register the edge in the man's voice, the goblin smiled a face splitting grin and nodded rapidly.

"Hm." He tilted his head to one side and looked into the happy changeling's eyes. Their color seemed to shift- sometimes green, then to blue, then on to a pale brown- but Jareth couldn't deny that there was a spark of intelligence behind them. He lowered one end of the cane, allowing the goblin to slide along the wood and land on a wooden stool that sat next to the throne. "Alright, Tinklewart, I have a mission for you."

"Not! Not!- No!" There was much stomping of feet and a voice that was both raspy and yet had a high warble, raised itself in indignation. Jareth didn't worry about being disobeyed. He had... ways of dealing with that.

Something small and wrapped in gold foil appeared in the palm of Jareth's hand and he ignore the goblin long enough to start the package dancing along the back of his fingers. The little one stopped stomping and sniffed with his flat nose, but the treat kept moving. Once he was sure the changeling's eyes were following it, he said seriously, "This is no ordinary mission. It's not fit for some ordinary goblin." Five other goblin eyes (and two beady chicken eyes) watched with the same rapt attention, but he waved them away with the back of his free hand. The king added, "This is a royal mission."

"Wooyaalll?" A vocal box unused to human speech wrapped the word around fangs and forced it out a face that looked like something at home on a pumpkin, but he clearly knew the meaning and puffed out his chest. "Yesh! Me! Me!" Tufts of wispy, brown hair danced up and down with the force of his head bobbing

Two more treats joined the first as they marched from hand to hand and from fingertips to wrist.

"Yes," said a thoughtful Goblin King as he too, stared at the golden candies. "Now what else... poetry, perhaps?"

* * *

Oblivious to any schemes underfoot, Sarah Williams turned off the porch light and brought an empty bowl back with her to the kitchen. She left just a few lights on in the back rooms, but hoped most of the little ones were done for the night. Her brother was out with some of her older friends and would no doubt want to tuck into his candy if she didn't have a healthy dinner ready. There was a roast settling in the slack oven, broccoli and peas already on the table, salad in the fridge and some fresh baked cupcakes waiting to be frosted. What was she forgetting? Oh, no!

She heard the sound of small, flat feet scampering along the hallway. Casting a nervous eye over the exposed food, Sarah braced for impact.

WHAM!

Goblins never seemed to realize that humans weren't as resilient as fantasy folk and she was glad to have had warning, so that only her pride and possibly her butt were bruised by the little, brown body that clutched to her ribcage.

"Breathing," she squeaked and pulled ineffectively on a leather strap that hung from the goblins vest. She tried to be gentle but it didn't notice.

"Giffz! Giffz!" He had to let ease his grip a little to shout and ended up letting go completely as the need to dance seemed to strike. "Speshul deeelibery!" Sarah laughed at the words and the twitching dance the goblin was trying to do in her kitchen. Piano, guitar and a synth beat started up from nowhere in particular to accompany and she knew the signs as the poor thing was about to break into song.

"What is this delivery, hm?" she interrupted. He looked up with eyes that were nearly bigger than his face.

"I haf pretty, pretty song?"

"No doubt, but we have dinner in a few minutes. So? What is this special thing?" She stood, dusting her hands off. Washing them at this point would be moot, depending on what he was about to hand her.

"Oooh! Mishon! Yep, yep. King gifz you dish." He handed her a piece of gold colored foil. She bent down to his level and winked at him.

"Yes, this is very pretty. Thank you very much for my lovely gift."

The little guy cocked his head to the side for a second, then looked down and scuffed his bare feet on the floor. "Is more," he said and held out his hand to her. Two uneaten candies appeared on his palm and he looked at them, a bit chagrined. He barely peeked up at her, blushing his leathery skin into an odd shade of chestnut.

She fluffed his crazy tuft of hair as she reached for the treats. "Do they taste good?" she asked, conspiratorially. At his emphatic nod, she put them on the counter behind her. "I'll save them for after dinner." The goblin looked up her, hope on his face.

"King say... he say... love, love?" he croaked out in his strange, high voice. Sarah, hid her laugh behind her hand and moved down to sit on his level.

"Did he, really?"

The goblin nodded vigorously, his hair flapping about and his face scrunched up quite seriously. "Much. He say it lotz!"

She turned her head, nose in the air. "Really?" she scoffed. "Couldn't come say it himself?" She reached over to tickle his belly. "What about you?"

His mouth fell open and he gaped at her, not really noticing her hand until it pushed in his tummy. "Me?" he squeaked and looked around.

"Speak for yourself, John Alden," she said and laughed at his jumping around. "What if I love you more?"

"No, no! King shay HE love," he asserted, his arms windmilling about. "Nooo bog meee!"

Sarah put on a pout and after a short struggle, had the goblin in a half hug, half headlock. "You don't love me?"

The fight went out of him and he hung his head, murmuring, "No, me love. Me love, too. Love, love." He watched her smile again and his toothy mouth turned up into a big grin. "Big hug?" Standing on her lap, he reached up to hug her neck, mindful of her whispers of, "gentle, this time" as she hugged him back.

"I love you, too," she said and kissed the top of his head. Mission completely forgotten, neither of them heard the thunder outside until the patio door opened suddenly.

Three shapes were outlined in the flash from an Autumn storm. A cheerful "Hey, guys!" broke the tension. The boy in the lead was dressed all in green with a blue bandana around his head. He and his friends slammed the door as he took off his backpack.

"Ack!" Sarah called from the floor as she tried to pry the goblin off of her neck. "Toby, don't you drag any mud in here!" Goblin strength being what it was, she ended up standing with the creature still hanging off of her and she put an arm under him, cradling him to her hip.

There was one dressed as some sort of gypsy/pirate/old man and he started stamping, barefoot in the doorway. "No mud on us, but yer should see da loot we got!" He shook a candy bracelet in one hand and the bag in his other was overflowing with colorfully wrapped candy. The tallest one looked like a cross between an orangutan and a yeti. He stood in the back, proudly holding a smaller bag. There was a terrible clattering when he swung it and the other two had to duck. "ROCKS!"

"Chill, dude!" Sarah's curly haired brother said, hands up to protect his face, he dodged the excited monster. "It's not raining yet, sis. Is dinner ready? Oh, hey. Squirt!" Toby came fully into the kitchen, having to push past the dwarf who was still clutching his bag and tallying up the treasure.

"Wid dis, I'll live like a king!" Another thunder clap made Hoggle shiver and they all quieted for a moment. Toby looked around the kitchen, opening the fridge and getting yelled at by his sister. When he grabbed the candies on the counter, the little goblin shouted, "NO!" He bared his fangs at the human boy.

"Oho, are these special? From 'him' maybe? Is His Royal Highness mad at me?"

"Stop goading him," Sarah said, restraining the goblin although he hadn't actually let go of her yet so the threat was mild. "Food's done. Why don't you guys go wash up and I'll have it out in a sec." She ignored the look of disgust her friends shared when she mentioned washing. It wasn't their favorite part of visiting, but it was necessary if they wanted to eat in her world. so they all nodded and shuffled off, Toby comparing notes with Hoggle over which house had given the best treats.

"And you," she nuzzled her nose against the squat face of the goblin in her arms. He looked up at her, slightly cross-eyed due to her closeness. "Go get your father to change you back and let him know dinner's ready. You get to do a "speshul meeshun" for momma, too!" His feet were already running before she set him down on the floor.


End file.
